Category: Otaku

Escalator Mystery

February 2, 2011

In the latest issue of Keroro Gunso, there is a scene in which one of the characters pauses before riding an escalator. He was waiting for the step with the footprints on it.

The escalator in the manga was not like the one above (in Singapore), but only had one pair of footprints on one of the steps. It was a typically strange scene in Sgt. Frog, but it triggered in me a memory!

From now on this post is dedicated to BW and AW and MMN and anyone else that grew up in Newcastle: Didn’t we have a wooden escalator in one store that had – on one step only – a pair of painted footprints?

I’m thinking it was probably in David Jones in Newcastle, but may possibly have been in the old Store building. The escalator was not one of the free-standing ones – it was against a back or side wall of the building with another wall built alongside (so it was a bit of a tunnel). As I said the stairs were wooden, and one of them had painted (yellow) footprints.

Is this memory real? I hope someone can verify that it is. But if so, then what was the purpose of the footprints? Why only on one step? Why only on one escalator?

Catching Rays On Giant

February 1, 2011

The new Alphaville album is out, and it’s called Catching Rays On Giant:

A promo video (in German).

It’s been seven years since Crazyshow – their last new material – and the current version of the band itself has changed as well. Of course Marian “I am Alphaville” Gold is still running the show (writing, singing and producing) so I’m pleased to say the sound that is Alphaville remains.

So what is that sound? Unfortunately there is no video of the first single, “I Die For You Today”, in album-version, but here’s a video of the radio remix.

The album version is better. I don’t think the beats work in that remix. It worked well enough apparently, since the song got to number 5 on the German charts!

Despite being 26 years older, Marian’s voice hasn’t changed much. His songwriting is as good as ever, and after only a few listens I found the album had grown on me in a big way. Of course Alphaville has always been on ‘heavy rotation’ in all my music players, so this isn’t surprising.

My favourites on the album so far include “The Things I Didn’t Do”, “Call Me Deep” and “Carry Me Down”. The latter is unusual in that it is the first Alphaville song in 26 years not sung by Marian Gold.

So all in all, I’m giving this one two thumbs up after a week of solid listening. Is it the best Alphaville album? No, but then I doubt they can ever beat the 4CD’s of Crazyshow. But it’s not the worst either, it’s just another in a relatively long line of very good albums from one of my all-time favourite bands.

When Verizon Told Me How Much An iPhone Upgrade Cost, I Told Them To ‘Saugen auf da Bein eines Hundes’!

January 27, 2011

Since I apparently am not eligible for an upgrade, it would cost me $650 to switch my Droid phone for an iPhone when they are released next month.

I calmly explained to the Verizon monkey that this is actually more expensive than if I canceled my current contract outright, paid the early termination fee ($300), then signed up for a brand new contract and choose an iPhone ($200). In an act of stunning genius, his only response was “Smartphones are expensive.”

So what about the ‘early upgrade plan’. Since my contract is one year old on February 8, surely I could take advantage of that plan (which I got when I signed my current contract) to upgrade to an iPhone for a one-time fee of $20?

Well, the problem is Verizon canceled the early upgrade plan entirely on January 16. Only the most cynical person would suppose this date had anything to do with the iPhone launch 2 weeks later…

In short, looks like I’ll be waiting till Feb 2012 for my iPhone.

At least I’ll get an iPhone 5 then 🙂

(BTW to JAF, since our contracts are essentially identical, I’m pretty sure all the above applies to you as well.)

Robot Claw